Pennsburg officials said Tuesday night that while a popular e-recycling service is being cancelled to the borough, they hope to have another provider with a similar program instated so services won’t cease for residents.

In a letter dated Aug. 17, New York-based WeRecycle! said they are “no longer providing e-waste recycling services” to Pennsburg. Effective Oct. 31, the company, which recycles televisions, computers, printers, fax machines, telephones and other electronic waste, said they can no longer continue collecting in the borough because they receive too many televisions and CRTs, the bulky cathode ray tube monitors that were replaced by flatscreens.

They blame the move on legislation called the Pennsylvania Covered Device Recycling Act which they say creates economic problems for their operation in state.

Council members, who expressed their displeasure with the move, especially in light of recent dealings with the company which came recommended by county officials, said they would like to move forward with continuing services with another company closer to home, noting they didn’t want to stop a popular program and service for residents.

Recycling committee chair Doug Landis said he contacted three different companies, hailing from Bensalem, Philadelphia and Edison, New Jersey which provide the same services. Sims Recycling Solutions of New Jersey offered a collection trailer and pickup at no cost to the borough and a reimbursement rate of about 25 cents per pound, half that of WeRecycle!.

Sims reportedly said they would not need any borough employees to load the recyclables on pickup days and offered to have council members tour their facility to see operations firsthand. They are said to be one of the largest recyclers in the country.

Council members, who gave a consensus to move forward with pursuing services through Sims, said they hope to have the new provider in place by Nov. 1 so services won’t be interrupted.

In other borough news, council engaged in a lengthy discussion with property owners John and Theresa Gilmore of the 1000 block of Lake Lane concerning recent construction at their home. The couple was upset, they said, because they didn’t feel the borough’s inspectors did enough to ensure a front porch was being built properly.

Theresa asked why the inspector couldn’t move dirt at the site to check make sure weight-bearing posts were connected to the structure (which they were not). While she said the dirt he would have to move was nominal, borough officials said it wasn’t part of their normal procedure and were concerned about liability should damage occur.

“He can only inspect what he can see,” Council President John Lear said. “You’re pushing the problem on to us. We are not responsible for moving the dirt.”

“We’re paying for a building inspection to be done,” Theresa said. “Where is our protection?”

While the couple acknowledged they have problems with the builder, officials said they found issues at the site during previous phases of the inspection and noted the framing inspection was never finalized pending resolution. The Gilmores said they are waiting for the builder to come back and resolve the problems with construction.

Council later awarded two contracts for work to remodel the borough building. They awarded John Membrino of Hereford a window contract for $2,390 and Old School Construction of East Greenville the drop ceiling work for $4,127.75.

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